Winter wonderland
by Lady Shandara
Summary: Finished. Not very good, but you got to try writing all kinds of stories. Reviews are welcome.
1. Portals and snowflakes and magic, oh my!

Hark: A story I promised to write a long time ago. Sorry, Chalmira, here's the first chapter at last. Jarlaxle and Entreri end up in our world, or to be more precise, my former hometown Mikkeli. And all of you people who ask "why is this in English if they're in Finland" (and probably also ask why do German officers in American movies speak English. I only ask why do they speak English with German accent if we should think they're speaking German, not English with German accent... THAT makes no sense.): try to survive with this terrible mistake. I promise to use some Finnish words somewhere, if it makes you feel better.

Disclaimer: Entreri and Jarlaxle belong to R. A. Salvatore, I'm just borrowing them again. 

  
  


Chapter One; Portals and snowflakes and magic, oh my!

  
  


Somewhere north of Neverwinter, Faerun:

  
  


Two figures were walking in the snowstorm, getting more lost every second. No skill, learned or magical, would help them to find the road, find the village that had to be near, find anything but more coldness and snow. 

"It's magical," Jarlaxle shouted over the roaring wind.

"Really? How did you work that out?" Entreri shouted back, almost slipping over. That made him even angrier. They had been walking for what felt like a day, although in reality, he knew, it had been more like a couple of hours. But the coldness was getting to him, despite of his warm clothing, making him tired, making him feel old. Making him feel cold. 

"That's easy, I just..." Jarlaxle started to shout and then stop, staring ahead of him. Entreri stopped too. There was something dark there, growing fast as it came closer. The assassin started to draw his sword, but realized it would do no good. Not here, in the middle of the cold snow, the icy wind numbing his body and mind.

"It looks..." Jarlaxle shouted, turning towards Entreri, and then the wind hit them, knocking them both over like they were small leaves. There was whiteness, Entreri saw it all around him, but it wasn't cold like the snow. It was something else, almost... soft and tempting, calling you to sleep. And then there was the terrible pain, the scene before his eyes became a mass of coloured spots and then he hit the ground.

  
  
  
  


Somewhere in The Place Which Is Real:

  
  


"Oh shit."

"What is it?" Tre'kher the Third, assistant guardian of the portals M-MM, asked, turning to look at his colleague, Andy, who was staring at the screen in front of him.

"A portal accident between two worlds."

"Shit. How bad is it?"

"Not all that bad," Andy said, scrolling down the numbers on the screen. "A too large concentration of magic in one place created a portal, but only two people went through."

"Where did they end up in?" Tre'Kher asked, getting up on his chair and sidling to watch the monitor over Andy's shoulder.

"Well, this isn't good," Andy replied, staring at the figures on the screen. "Only two went through, which is good, but they ended up in a world that has no magical energy. Which means that bringing them back won't be that easy."

"And it's the holiday season, we have too little staff for opening any extra portals," Tre'Kher moaned. "We'll have to locate them, which means sending people there to find them, open the portal to move them here, then open another portal to move them back to their own world... How can we find the necessary people to do this?"

"You know, there might be a way," Andy said, opening a new window to the screen and going through some figures with great speed. It helped to have three pairs of eyes, all connected to the brain so that he could operate the different information each pair sent at the same time. "The world they were thrown into is a popular place, many people go there on holidays. If we find one of our staff there, they can locate these two and open a portal there. After all, they have the necessary amount of power to get back here, so once the portal is open all of them can come through. It'll be a lot easier than sending someone there, since we're understaffed as it is. But if there's nobody there, we have to call someone in."

"Ok, see if anybody's there," Tre'Kher said, hoping there would be, but in reality holding on to his pessimistic nature. Andy opened some file, inserted some figures and then grinned. "Yes, there are two of our employees there, together. I'll call them as soon as I find out the more precise location where the portal threw those people. Let's hope all goes well..."

  
  
  
  


Mikkeli, Finland

  
  


It had been snowing earlier. This hadn't made a great difference to the scenery since it was early December and there had been snow on the ground already for couple of weeks. At least in this part of Finland, Anna thought when she stepped out of the bus and started to walk towards the marketplace. Or so she'd been told. She was carrying a heavy green bag and a black back bag. There was an airline tag on the green bag and she still couldn't believe that the bag had ended up to the same country as she did. It should have ended up in New York, and she should have got a bag belonging to a 30-year old dominatrix. This had happened to her friend once, so the likelihood of it happening to her was very small. But you had to hope for some excitement.

She had left two weeks earlier, apparently a day before the snow came. She had spent wonderful time in London, visiting her friend who now lived there. After days of intensive shopping she had found Christmas presents to all family members and friends who deserved presents, and had bought some things she was certain she couldn't live without, like the soundtrack for the British (and, in her opinion, the one and only) Queer as Folk television series, or the white, fuzzy toy bunny that walked around and stopped at some point to wriggle its nose. Of course she hadn't bought batteries for it, but you could get batteries from Finland as well, whereas it would be more difficult to find those toy bunnies.

She had been prepared for the snow and the cold, and was wearing a warm sweater under her leather coat (which wasn't an ideal winter coat in Finland, but had been good in London), but her toes were staring to freeze in the shoes that were not designed for too cold weather or for many pairs of socks. She walked fast, glad that she lived close and didn't have to wait for a bus like some poor people on one side of the market place. They must've been freezing. Then again, they were dressed more sensibly than she was.

She almost slipped when crossing a street, cursing the shoes for lacking the "staying-at-least-moderately-upright-in-winter"-quality, and walked the rest of the journey a bit slower, looking at the brightly coloured windows of stores. The church looked impressive in the darkness, with some light illuminating it. She walked past it, towards a bunch of tower blocks that all looked the way most tower blocks do, ugly. There were already some Christmas lights on some of the windows. She liked the normal, light coloured ones (She was wondering whether light was a colour. Yellow, then.), but hated all the blue and green and red ones that blinked or winked or whatever. They made the whole light idea pointless. Light was supposed to be a golden dot in the horizon, calling you, giving you strength to go on. Those blue and green and whatever ones were ridiculous, turning Christmas into some kind of Coca-Cola winter festival with lots of things to buy and then show off to the neighbours and other people you didn't like. 

All those advertisements, showing one hundred things you needed for Christmas, half of them depicting an American Santa Claus, who lived in North Pole and had short, sleek, pointy-eared elves as his little helpers... The true Finnish Santa Claus, Joulupukki, was based on a pagan animal character, a goat, and he lived in Korvatunturi, in Finland, and certainly did not drive a Coke truck. And he had helpers, called tonttu, best described as gnomes, who were short and bearded and didn't wear stupid tights and speak in squeaky voices. There weren't many things Anna believed in, but a Finnish Joulupukki was one of them, the true Joulupukki, not the one overly Americanized... dude. She didn't really believe in Joulupukki, but she liked the character, and the story behind the character. A piece of old "pagan" tradition in the modern world.

She reached her tower block, opened the door and stepped into the wonderfully warm hall. Her flat was on the third floor, and although she usually climbed the stairs, she was cold, tired and carrying a heavy bag, so she used the lift. She opened the door to her apartment, kicked the pile of ads that had arrived in the last couple of days (her friend had been there to water her plants regularly, and had piled the other ads and post near the door), turned on the lights, put the bag down and closed the door behind her. Then she sighed with relief. Home at last.

After ten minutes she had water boiling for tea, and she had turned on the tv to watch ten o'clock news that would start soon. In the next day she would have to mail the translation work she had done during her trip, and then she could take it easy until the next year, when she would start as the substitute teacher in the nearby highschool, teaching English. She would have the job for a year and then, if the actual teacher who was now on leave for personal reasons, would decide not to come back, she might have a good chance for a permanent job. It would be great. She had lived in Mikkeli from August, doing freelance translation work and also working as a substitute teacher in an elementary school for two months, and she liked the town. It was small, sometimes annoyingly small, but you could get to Helsinki in three hours to do all the fantasy novel shopping you couldn't do in Mikkeli. Other than that, it was fine.

Anna watched the news, drinking her tea and trying not to spill it on her month old sofa, which her parents had bought her. When she had been a student, she'd had an armchair, which was in the corner next to one of her bookcases, but after she had moved to the two room apartment, it had seemed a bit empty with only the things from her former, student time studio apartment, and so her mother had insisted that they would buy her a sofa. It was a nice red one that would turn, in case she had visitors, into a bed. Before she'd only have an old mattress to offer to any overnight guests.

After the news she turned off the tv and was about to start to get ready to go to sleep when she had a strange sensation. Then there was a flash of white light behind the window. She dropped the remote control and heard the batteries fall out and roll under the sofa. The light faded and there were two loud thumps. She rushed to the window, pulled aside the curtain and stared at the yard, where there were two figures laying very still in the snow. She stared for a moment and then snatched her cell phone and keys, put on her "not-for-winter" shoes and her leather coat and rushed out. Unusual coldness met her when she ran to the yard and towards the two figures, who now were trying to get up.


	2. Signalling to space and calling to New Y...

Hark: Thanks for the point about portals, Chalmira. Hopefully that is explained here. And Giovanna, there will be some more Finnish traditions, beliefs, etc. that all non-Finns can admire/ponder/hate. At least I'm making fun of Nokia (not really a tradition, more like a... company) here... And (an imaginary, but still delicious) gingerbread woman/man/pig/heart (you choose the shape) to anyone who can tell me the name of the movie in which there is a cute Anglo-Indian guy called Tony (read the chapter to understand why I ask this). 

  
  


Chapter Two: Signalling to space and calling to New York

  
  
  
  


Mikkeli, Finland

Marko got up, shaking his head. The blow had flown him across the room and he has, luckily enough, landed on his bed, which had creaked quite suspiciously, but hadn't broken, yet. He stared at the machine in the middle of the room, which had stopped whirring and was clicking slowly. As he stared, the clicking stopped and a very strange poinnng-sound told him that something bad was going to happen. The machine exploded, although it wasn't a real explosion, like those in the movies. It just sort of... bursted open, little bits spreading around it on a small circle. Then there was a small pillar of flame, so small that the word "pillar" seemed unnecessary, and then it was silent, except for the sound of Linkin Park played very loudly by his neighbour. 

Ok, that hadn't gone as well as it should, but it had went better than the previous tests. Something had happened, maybe he had been able to send some kind of signal. Maybe someone had heard it and was coming. That strange force, he grinned at the word, hadn't been in his imagination, it had been real. Something had happened and now maybe someone was coming.

Marko had seen his first Star Trek episode at the age of eight. He had become an instant fan, collecting all the episodes he could, and starting to watch other science fiction series and movies as well. But unlike most Star Trek, Star Wars, etc, fans, who just memorize the star dates and interesting Jedi mind tricks, he had taken an interest to the universe as a whole, and especially to the universe as a home to many other people besides those inhabiting the planet Earth. He had studied all about the space, carrying huge books home from the library when he was twelve, when most other boys of his age rather just played with sticks, claiming them to be light sabres and making whoosh-sounds, or claiming them to be guns and making bang-sounds, or making their parents buy them toy light sabres and guns. He had begged for his parents to subscribe him a scientific magazine.

And then, as he had grown older and his thirst for knowledge had also grown, he'd found the Internet. And in the Internet, thousands of thoughts, theories and also some pictures of religious buildings and some religious writings. It was amazing how old temples and churches were constructed, like they had been planned to be used as bases for sending signals to the space. And then, two months ago, he'd collected all the important theories, some charts and schemes, and finally combined them with some ideas of his own. Collecting the necessary equipment had been quite easy, and since he'd worked in a hardware store for two years, people there knew his interest to science and building things, and so they hadn't asked him much about the things he was buying, getting an employer discount, of course.

It had taken him a month to build it, and then he'd spent a couple of weeks trying to get the machine to work, testing it again and again, never actually achieving any goals he'd set for himself. The machine would spin, sending the signal, but nothing had happened. Until now. He'd been heard, he was sure of it. The machine had responded to something, made a connection with something. Now all he'd have to do was to finish the smaller version of the machine and turn it on and wait. They would come, he was sure of it now. He'd had a connection with aliens, strangers, whatever you wished to call them, from the space, from another world. They would come, he was sure of it. The big machine had drawn their attention, the little one, sending a lot weaker, but still sufficient signal, would lead them here.

  
  
  
  


Still in Mikkeli

  
  


Anna stopped next to the closer figure, who had managed to sit up. It was male, or so she assumed, with very strange clothes. He looked like he was coming from a costume party. His skin was dark, not the kind of black she usually associated with people said to have black skin, but black as night, black as... really, really black. And he turned to look at her and his eyes were glowing red...

Anna didn't think, this wasn't the time for that, but turned around and rushed towards the door. She'd left it open, but once she was inside she could pull it close and it would lock itself automatically and they wouldn't get in and... A hand snatched hold of her waist, pulling her back. Then it moved to hold her head and she felt a knife on her throat.

"Don't even think about moving," a voice whispered into her ear. "Now, what did you do to us?"

"What, I didn't, I..." Anna tried to stop herself from screaming aloud, which would probably cause the knife to cut her throat, not just press against it. She wasn't crying, which was strange, she'd thought that if there was a goog time to cry, this kind of moment would be it. 

"A strange place," another voice said, and the black-skinned man walked to her and looked at her thoughtfully. He didn't attack me, Anna thought. It was the other one, who had been further away and still lying down. The man stared at her with his red eyes and then past her shoulder to the person holding her. "I don't think she did this. She's very young, and scared to death right now."

"If it wasn't you, then who was it?" the man holding her asked, letting go of her. There's no point of threatening me with a knife, Anna thought. I wouldn't get away even if I had a head start. Still she took a few steps so that the both men were in her view. The man who'd been holding the knife on her throat had a light brown skin, which reminded Anna of this Anglo-Indian guy called Tony she had dated two years ago in the summer when she had been working in London as a waitress. And he also had red eyes, like the other man. Infrared, she thought, some part of her brain still operating quite well. They can see in the dark. He had a small goatee, and he was holding a knife (a dagger, really, added the side of her that read fantasy novels) and he was dressed as strangely as the other man. He was lightly built, as was the other man, but they both seemed like they could take down someone bigger with no problem. Warriors, she thought, feeling like she'd slipped into some strange, alternate fantasy world. The black-skinned man was wearing a large, plumed hat, which she'd found amusing in any other situation and... And his ears were pointy. Anna was surprised how many disturbing details she could pick up in such a short time, although the dagger was still the most disturbing one.

"I just saw this flash and I looked out and I saw you and I thought you were hurt and needed help," she said, without much breathing in the middle. And you are hurt, she added in her mind, looking at a scratch on the dagger-holders forehead and the torn sleeve of the other man's coat. She could see that blood was soaking through the fabric. The men glanced at each other.

"What is this place?" the black-skinned (and pointy eared, Anna reminded herself) man asked. "Neverwinter? Luskan?"

"I... This is Mikkeli," Anna said. The men glanced at each other again. Anna wondered whether she should say something, when there was a loud noise. A truck was coming down the street slowly, she could see it from where she was standing. The men turned to look at it, and Anna thought she could almost see the real-life equivalent of jaw dropping open. They're not from around here, she told herself. Then where were they from? Where was a place where some people had pointy ears? Other than the near-by movie theatre, where the last part of The Lord of the Rings would premiere on the 17th? Fantasy world. Oh, gods!

Both of the men spun around to look at her. "I think you'd better tell us where we are, with a bit more detail," the black-skinned man said. "Is there a place we could go?"

Anna stared at them, her eyes kept turning to look at the dagger, and realized there was really nothing for her to do. "Come inside. I live on the third floor. And please, put that dagger away," she added to the other man. "If someone sees it, they'll call the police and you'll be in real trouble." The man looked at her and then put the dagger away. She felt a bit better, although she was still painfully aware of the existence of the dagger and more of the existence of the possibility that it could be on her throat again.

  
  
  
  


New York, USA

  
  


"Why us?" a woman shouted into what could've been a cell phone if Nokia or Ericsson had a bit more imagination, a better grasp of what was actually stylish, and of course technology that was very highly developed and worked partly with magic.

"Because you're there," Andy's voice came through clearly although the distance was... nearly immeasurable. "It's holiday season, we're understaffed and... Please! Pretty please?"

"That's pretty pathetic," the woman said, grinning.

"Well, I'm comfortable with myself and my masculinity, and therefor I'm willing to beg when I need to, thank you very much," Andy said. "Or would you feel better if I threatened you? I really don't want to, and I can't think of a good threat right now."

"I'll have to ask Sonya, but... Do we have to go right away? You said there were only two, so... Can two people really cause that much trouble? They were people, weren't they? Not some strange monsters?"

"People, yes. It was easier to get the information from... Faerun, because it's a magical place, so... You know how it works, don't you? But the world they ended up in, as you probably know since you're there, has no magic, or at least..."

"I know. It has certain amount of background magic, but it's not used. They don't know how to use it."

"Well, someone partly does. Or then they were just lucky. That's probably caused the portal to open there, someone tried to do something."

"Is this scientific speech?" the woman asked. "It would be much more believable without those breaks and somethings, you know."

"The problem is that I don't know yet. The data show some kind of technological signal that attracted the portal to open there. I mean, it might have opened there anyway, but the signal made that possibility very possible. Sorry, I'm doing it again."

"A limited vocabulary is not something to be ashamed of," the woman said. "So some idiot did something and that attracted the portal. When will you have more information?"

"Umm... Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. This has turned out to be a bit complicated. Usually these portal accidents happen between two magical worlds, the last one happening between a magical and non-magical was over two thousand years ago."

"So it'll take some time before you can tell us where to go?" the woman said happily. "And until that we can continue our holiday?"

"Err, well, yes," Andy said. "Of course. But you'll do it?"

"Send us the information when you have it, we'll see that those two get home and nothing bad happens. But now I have to go. You know, we have tickets for The Producers for tonight!"

"Umm, great," said Andy, whose grasp on musicals on Earth wasn't that good. "That's good for you. Enjoy," he added bitterly. "I'll work here without rest and send you more information when I have it."

"Excellent plan," the woman said. "Bye!" she added and pressed the end button. Then she stared at the wall for a moment, trying to think of a best way to tell Sonya. She wouldn't like this at all.

  
  
  
  


Mikkeli, Finland

  
  


Anna was feeling herself very British at the moment, making tea during a difficult situation. But she had been standing outside without proper winter clothing and she didn't want to catch a cold. The two men, Jarlaxle and Entreri, were sitting on her sofa, staring at the television, where an action movie had got to the point where the hero was killing everyone in sight. 

"That is shown so that even children can see it?" Jarlaxle asked. Anna almost dropped the bag of tea. She hadn't heard him coming into the kitchen. She turned around and looked at him.

"Sorry if I scared you," he said, smiling. "I know how difficult this situation must be for you."

"Well, I have to admit that not everyday I meet people who first threaten me and then tell me they've been blown here from another world."

"But you believe us anyway?" Jarlaxle asked. Anna nodded. "Well, people with pointy ears are not very common here. Or people with infrared vision," she added. Jarlaxle grinned. He was, Anna hated herself admitting this in this kind of situation, kind of attractive, especially since he was wearing only what she's describe as T-shirt, after cleaning and bandaging the small wound on his arm with a couple of large plasters Anna had in her medicine/miscellaneous cabinet. She knew she was staring, and when she looked at his face she knew that he knew.

"And there really is no magic in this world?" he added, and it sounded more like an amazed comment than an actual question. "At least not the kind we use." That certainly was true. Anna had spent very amusing two minutes watching the two men try out their magical equipment and failing. Her favourite was the portable hole that seemed like an Acme-hole used in Roadrunner cartoons. When Jarlaxle had dropped it on the floor, it had just been there like a black carpet. They hadn't been able to drop downstairs to give a good scare to Mrs. Virtanen and her five cats, which Anna was actually happy about. She liked the old lady, who had advised her of the quickest ways around the town a couple of days after she had moved there. Mrs. Virtanen had lived in Mikkeli almost all her life, she had moved to Tampere because of her husbands job, but after the death of her husband she had returned to her one and only hometown and settled into exactly the same kind of two room apartment that Anna had. 

"Yes, it would've been nice if the hole had worked," Jarlaxle said, as if reading her thoughts. "Then again, it might have caused us some trouble when we were thrown here, since it's not a good thing to have two different dimensional portals collide. It could've been pretty nasty."

"Nasty as in splash and red stuff all around?" Anna asked. "You want tea? And your friend?"

"Thank you, tea for both of us," Jarlaxle said. "He's not from a cold climate, so..."

"But used to it by now," Entreri said. He, too, had appeared into the small kitchen without a sound. He had also cleaned the wound on his forehead and chosen, not surprisingly, a normal plaster, not one of the colourful ones with Disney characters that Anna also had found. "But we are grateful for your assistance," he added, glaring at Jarlaxle, who was grinning. Anna felt she was missing some kind of joke, but that wouldn't be the first time in her life.

"So tea for both of you," she said. "Anything to eat? And if you want to sleep, we should open the sofa."

"Open?" Jarlaxle asked. 

"Yes, it opens into a bed. I think you'll both fit there," Anna said, but since she was a nice person deep down, she added: "I also have an extra mattress. Then tomorrow we can... You can... We should try to find out what the hell actually happened. I think I should call a couple of people who might be able to help us." Or at least I'd have someone to share this ridiculous situation with me, she added to herself. This kind of thing shouldn't happen, she kept telling herself, was still telling herself when she went to bed. In the morning she woke up, walked into the living room wearing her old Snoopy nighty and big woolly socks, and saw Jarlaxle and Entreri sitting on the sofa, which they had manage to fold back into sofa shape, and watching the morning news from the television. Damn. It's real. I really have to deal with this.


	3. Confusion, sweet confusion

Hark: Why do I always want to dress Entreri in strange clothes? Poor little thing... I'm evil. And this isn't a very good chapter, I promise to try harder with the next one.

  
  


Chapter Three: Confusion, sweet confusion

  
  


Mikkeli, Finland

  
  


After breakfast, which had consisted of a cup of tea since she wasn't very hungry, Anna decided it was time to call some help. Who to call was the problem. She went through in her head a list of people she knew, and then crossed out all of those who would think she was joking or insane if she called them and told what had happened. In the end the list had only two names. She checked that Jarlaxle and Entreri were still watching the television (a bit like babysitting, she had thought, out them in front of the television and they'll be nice and quiet), or to be more precise, her Lord of the Rings-dvd, and then went to her room. She took her cell phone and after some pondering chose a number. 

"The person you have called is not available. Please..." a mechanical voice said. Anna hung up and chose the other number. Please, oh please answer the phone. I'll go crazy soon.

"Jani," a tired male voice answered the phone.

"Thank god you're there. I need your help."

"Who's this?" Jani asked. "Anna? You should know better than to call so early in the morning. I was sleeping."

"Well, it's time to wake up. Please, listen to what I have to say and don't call me insane, because I'm pretty sure I'm not..."

  
  
  
  


Helsinki, Finland

  
  


Jani stood in front of his closet, trying to find clothes he would probably never wear again. There was a part of his brain saying that this was a joke and when he would appear at Anna's door with a bag full of men's clothes, he'd be laughed at. But other part had recognized the extremely calm and steady voice that Anna used whenever she was worried or panicking and didn't want it to show. And who knows, it was a strange world, strange things could happen although they seemed impossible. That wasn't probably the best view of the world, but it worked better then the other ones he'd tried.

After he'd found a pile of clothes that he wouldn't miss, he packed them all, then packed some clothes for himself and checked from the net when the next train or bus to Mikkeli would leave. He had already called his work and managed to get someone to cover his shifts until next week. He was working as a bartender at the moment. He really should've been studying mathematics at the university, but what had happened was the old story; you didn't have enough money to survive with the rent and other things while you were studying, decided to take a job and were swept away by the job so that you didn't have any time to study, because you had to get money so you would be able to study... He had stopped trying to explain that to himself and to others a long time ago, and although knew that he really should continue his studies, he had never actually managed that. He had about 40 credits of the 160 credits he needed to graduate, and he'd started his studies 3 years ago... Not a very good record, he knew, but all kinds of things seemed to get into the way. Like this call from Anna. He had just missed a bus leaving to Mikkeli, but there was a train leaving soon. He could make it if he tried. He thought about leaving once more, there was a possibility that this was just a joke. But if it wasn't, how could he ever forgive himself for not going, not seeing it through. So he left, with a bag full of clothes for people who possibly didn't even exist.

  
  
  
  


Mikkeli, Finland

  
  


Kata was trying to find her keys, which had the ability to disappear whenever she was in hurry and needed them. She found them on the bookshelf and shoved them into her bag. Then she put on her coat, shoes, looked for her gloves for a while and after finding them from the pocket of the coat she was wearing, left. She had come from work a while ago, she'd had the morning shift, and listened to the three messages that Anna had left her. The point seemed to be that she had encountered two men from some fantasy world and needed help. Kata, wondering whether her friend had been drinking or simply gone insane, decided to go to see her anyway. Maybe it was joke. A very strange joke, but nevertheless a joke. It had to be. What was the option?

  
  
  
  


Still in Mikkeli

  
  


Anna returned to her apartment, carrying two bags full of food. After much argument she had persuaded Jarlaxle and Entreri to stay inside. She had explained, very patiently, that they didn't have proper clothes and therefor they would draw too much attention, and finally, when Jarlaxle had started to get on her nerves, she had asked them how they were going to find out anything even if they did go outside. They had been thrown here by magic, but there was no magic here, no mages and their own magical equipment didn't work. Their personal abilities, like infrared vision and Jarlaxle's levitation skills, worked, although the levitation hadn't worked very well; he had managed to float a couple of seconds and then he had fallen down. Jarlaxle had reasoned that because those abilities were part of them, they still worked, but they seemed to be starting to fade. 

"So how are you going to find out anything?" she had asked them. "What the hell are you going to do? Walk around asking people whether they've seen something strange? My friend knows someone who knows something about science, and I'm hoping they know something about these weirder things. But... You really can't do anything, can you?"

"We won't know that until we can go outside," Jarlaxle had said.

"And you can go outside as soon as you have proper clothes," Anna had said. "Or you can go out now, but then there's no need to come back here. Find someone else to give you shelter and food!" After that there had been an awkward silence, which finally had been broken by Jarlaxle: "I'm sorry. You know this world better, we would be fools not to listen to you."

"Umm... It's ok," Anna had replied, and then explained them how the dvd-player, or actually PlayStation2, worked so that they could continue watching The Lord of The Rings. Then she had went shopping, because she certainly didn't have enough food for them all, and the next day was independence day and the shops would be closed. And she also needed to get out and try to make her brain to work. Some part of it was still expecting to find it all a dream.

"This is really interesting," Jarlaxle said when she entered the apartment. They were still watching The Lord of the Rings. "So this is based on a story by someone who just made up all these elves and orcs? Marvellous."

"There's also the second movie," Anna said, wondering again whether it was a good idea to let, what to her were fantasy people, watch fantasy movies. It seemed a bit strange.

"We also watched some of these... news of yours," Entreri said. "Are there really weapons that can kill people from far away?"

"Yes," Anna replied, carrying the bags into the kitchen. "They're humane weapons, you don't have to look into the eyes of the person you're killing."

"You don't approve of them?"

"No. There should be a better way to do things. You shouldn't kill people and claim it's alright, because it never is. Sometimes the reasons are better than in other occasion, but..."

"Sometimes violence is the only way."

"Yes. But it shouldn't be. There has to be another way. And if there isn't, we must find a new way that will be..." The doorbell rang. "That would be the help I need. Don't worry;" she said, wondering whether that was really necessary. She went to open the door and resisted the urge to hug Kata, she was so happy to see her friend.

"Ok, I'm here, where're those..." Kata's voice faded. Anna turned to look behind her and saw Jarlaxle leaning on the wall and smiling. 

"Come in," Anna said and almost had to drag Kata in so that she could close the door.

"Pointy ears," Kata managed to say.

"Yes. It's not polite to stare, you know," Anna said, trying not to start laughing. "And they're not fake, you can try. Jarlaxle, this is Kata. Kata, Jarlaxle. I know this is insane, but... Thank you for coming."

"At your service, my lady," Jarlaxle said, bowing. Entreri entered, glaring at the drow. "And this is Entreri," Anna continued. "And they're here and... I really don't know. Jani should also be coming. If in trouble, spread the trouble as far as possible so you're no alone."

"That's good," Kata said, staring at the two men. Then her brow furrowed as she listened to the sounds coming from the living room. "Are you watching Lord of the Rings?"

  
  
  
  


Later that evening in Mikkeli

  
  


Jani didn't stare as much as Kata had, although he didn't retain his ability to speak as quickly as she had. Then he gave the clothes he brought to Jarlaxle and Entreri and sat down by Anna's computer and started to contact his friends at the physics department at the universities of Helsinki and Turku. He tried to make the question sound like a joke, although that was difficult. "Is it possible for people from alternate world to be swept into ours?" 

Jarlaxle and Entreri dressed in the clothes that Jani had brought. They were a bit too big for both of them, since Jani was more heavily built, but they made them look more normal. They had to wear their own boots, but otherwise they would fit in nicely. Except for the small matter of colours... Jani had brought only one old coat, which was bright yellow. Jarlaxle had gladly given it to Entreri, who looked like he would've wanted to be anywhere but there. The drow was wearing two sweaters, and the top one was a decent shade of blue, but because he had to hide his ears, he was also wearing a bright red woolly hat. Anna waited until they left to find whatever clues they hoped to find before she dared to laugh. If things could become more insane, they always did, at least in her life.


	4. Interesting independence day

Hark: It's December 6th, happy birthday Finland! I've been drinking Blue Angels to celebrate and I'm feeling very, very good right now. So that might explain why the text may be strange. Here's a thought: Terry Pratchett writes that bodies shape the minds that occupy them; if a witch goes into the mind of a bird and stays there too long, she starts to think like a bird and to forget that she's a human. Could that happen if a whole person is taken to another world? Could the world change the person, the outsider, thrown into it?

  
  


Chapter Four: Interesting independence day 

  
  


Mikkeli, Finland

  
  


Anna woke up around four o'clock when the doorbell rang. Apparently the person ringing it hadn't realized that once was enough, he (for Anna knew that it had to be either Jarlaxle or Entreri) was pressing the button again and again. As she was getting up, she heard Jani opening the door. She put on a flannel dressing gown she'd found from her closet and her woolly socks, and went to see what was going on.

"Nothing," Jarlaxle said, taking of the sweaters. "Absolutely nothing. I felt a small amount of magic around the yard where we fell, and also something... else nearby, but I couldn't sense it better. I couldn't feel where it came from..."

"And then there was no point staying out there and freezing," Entreri added. He was freezing and annoyed, trying very hard not to show it. All of this was... ridiculous. He had never relied too much on magic, but now he was starting to realize how useful all of those little magical gadgets were. And Charon's Claw... He'd left it in, after Anna had explained that people didn't carry swords around, and had taken only his dagger, which also lacked it vampiric ability. He knew he could fight without any magical weapons, but the problem was that he had started to rely on them more and more lately. 

And Jarlaxle's attitude was leaving him a bit confused. The drow used magic much more than Entreri, but now he didn't seem to mind about not being able to use it. He seemed worryingly interested of this technology all around. Entreri remembered the pictures on the news, the... missiles flying to hit a target far away. And then there was all this other kind of technology, which seemed innocent, like those telephones and televisions, but Entreri knew Jarlaxle and could only begin to guess how the drow could start to use them if they were stuck here for much longer... He didn't even want to think about it. He needed to get back to his own world, there world he knew how to live in... He got a grip of himself, almost shocked of the way his thoughts were moving. He had never shrunk away from a challenge, if he faced a situation he couldn't seem to handle, he found a way to handle it. By comparison to Faerun, this seemed like a peaceful world, and maybe it was the peacefulness that made Entreri so suspicious. Something bad would happen, he was sure of it.

"Great," Anna sighed, and Entreri turned to look at her. The woman looked tired, and Entreri could understand it. He had to admit that she had handled the situation well.

"I'm going to go back to bed," Anna said. "Jani is sleeping on the mattress, so you two have to share the sofa. Don't wake me in the morning. If you have to go out again, you know how to open the door."

"Sleep well," Jani said and when Anna had went to her room, closing the door behind her, he turned to look at Jarlaxle and Entreri. "Don't upset her. It's difficult enough as it is for her. For us. And for you too, I guess. I haven't heard from any of my friends yet, but... I don't know. This si so ridiculous that..."

"Thank you for that fine sentiment," Entreri said, walking past him.

"He's like that sometimes," Jarlaxle said grinning. "Now, could you tell me about these... compers, was it?"

"Computers," Jani said. "Why? Oh, never mind. We'll have time to talk about this when the sun is up. I need my sleep too."

"Where's that charming lady that was here earlier?" Jarlaxle asked, grinning in a way Jani didn't like.

"She went home," he said flatly, very annoyed by the grin that didn't seem to be going away. "Good night, now."

  
  
  
  


Later that day, Mikkeli

  
  


Marko was starting to get nervous. He knew it had been only a day, but surely they weren't restricted by time the same way as humans were. He'd spent the previous day calculating the strange force that had broken the machine and tried to figure out where it had come from. He hadn't been able to get very accurate readings, but he didn't have anything better to do on the independence day, and so he set out into the snowy streets.

He had been walking around for two hours, when he saw the man. Well, what looked like a man. But there was something not quite right about him. His skin was black, and although there now were also others than the "ordinary" white people in small Finnish towns like Mikkeli, there was something, he really couldn't explain it properly, something not right. And he moved like, Marko really couldn't find the right words to explain what he saw. Everything just felt, to his mind tuned to look for strange things, not quite fitting. The man moved like a normal human could only hope to move like, so softly. And he had noticed that Marko was looking at him. He looked at him and then started to walk away. Marko thought for a moment and then rushed after the man.

The yard was empty, but he could see a figure climbing the stairs in one of the tower blocks. He ran, but when he was halfway up to the first floor, he heard a doorbell ring, a door open and then slam close, very fast. Now he'd have to find the right apartment, and disturbing people who were spending quiet time on independence day wasn't usually a good idea. But he had to find out. The force driving him was too strong, he could sense a small part of himself watching him, trying to stop him, telling him it would've been better just to memorize those star dates. He ignored it, or the force driving him ignored it, and climbed the stairs. The man didn't go to the first floor, and he would have probably made it to the second floor earlier... So possibly the third floor, maybe the fourth. Time to find out the truth about the space.

  
  


"Someone followed me," Jarlaxle said after slamming the door close. "And I think he saw that I came into this house. Damn this place! Nothing works here!"

"Magic doesn't work here," Anna said, looking worried. "I thought there wouldn't be many people around this time. The independence day parade is over, people should be at home eating, or something. What did he look like?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Entreri asked.

"Because in here we have these wonderful people called skinheads, who are ready to attack everyone who's not white. Well, they attack people who are white if they're also Russian or... I'm talking about racism," she added, looking at their blank expressions. "Don't tell me you don't have racism?"

"Humans treating other humans badly simply because they look different or speak different language?" Jarlaxle said. "Yes, we have it. In smaller places, where the people are..."

"Backward and idiotic," Jani called out from the living room. "Like in here. Like in this whole country!"

"So these skinheads all look alike?" Jarlaxle asked. "You can recognize them?"

"Well, they're usually bald, or have short hair. Stupid jackets, army boots, sometimes army-type clothes..." Anna stopped to think. "They look stupid, unless you're alone with someone foreign-looking late at night when they walk past you. Then they look scary."

"Well, this one looked like a normal young man," Jarlaxle said. "There was something... strange about him, though. I really don't... Oh yes, I do know. There was the feeling, like the one in the air in the place where we fell. He did it!"

"A normal-looking young man made a spell in a world where magic doesn't work and brought you here?" Jani asked.

"He had something to do with it," Jarlaxle said calmly. "And..." The doorbell rang. 

"Should I open the door?" Anna asked. "Jarlaxle, look through the spyhole. Is it him?" 

The drow moved quietly to the door and peeped out. Then he stepped back and nodded. Entreri had fetched his weapons, Jarlaxle already had his daggers hid somewhere, Anna didn't even want to know.

"Open the door," Jarlaxle said to Anna. "You, get into the bedroom and stay there," he added to Jani. Then he and Entreri moved to the livingroom so that they couldn't be seen from the door.

Anna drew a breath and then moved to open the door just as the doorbell rang again.

"Yes?" she asked the young man behind it? "I'm not buying anything, so.." 

"They're here, aren't they?" the man asked. "Don't even think about lying to me!"

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about," Anna said, but the man stared at her and then, she hadn't been expecting it, pushed the door open. She lost her balance and fell over as the man rushed past her and then stopped as Entreri stepped to meet him, sword raised. "I would suggest you don't move."

"You're one of them, aren't you?" the man asked. "I called you and you came, I knew you would. No need for hostility, I'm your friend!"

"You called us?" Jarlaxle asked, stepping into view. The man gasped as he looked at the drow's pointy ears and silver eyes. "Why?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me?" Anna muttered, getting up and closing the door. Jani appeared from the bedroom, holding a chair. "Don't hit anyone with that," Anna said to him. Her arm was aching, she had fallen on top of it.

"You're finally here! Tell me, how was the signal? You heard it fine? So why didn't you come to see me? Why come here?" the young man kept talking, as if he had no choice. There was a strange gleam in his eyes that worried Entreri. It seemed as if there was someone else in the man's mind with him.

"The signal was fine," Jarlaxle said. "Put down the sword, this is the person who called us," he said to Entreri. "I'm sorry, we had to be sure, you know. Now, tell me..." he said and then hit the man. He fell to the floor silently. Anna and Jani both stared at the drow.

"He's not himself, not completely," Jarlaxle said. "Whatever he did, that had some kind of effect on him. Do you have any rope so we could tie him up?"

"I don't have any rope for tying people up!" Anna said. "What... This is too much! You just hit him!"

"Well, he deserved it. How's your arm?"

"Ok, I think. It hurts a bit," Anna said, realizing that trying to understand anything at the moment was useless. "But if I go to jail for this, I'll hate you forever."

"I think everything will be fine," Jarlaxle said. "Entreri can check your arm, Jani, you can see whether any of your friends have replied to you, and I'll see what I can do to this one."

The doorbell rang. Anna, still standing closest to the door, peeked through the spyhole and then opened the door for Kata.

"I'm sorry, I had to spend the morning with my parents, but..." Kata stopped. "What has happened here?"

"Jarlaxle will explain to you," Anna sighed. "I'm going to get my arm treated now. And then I'll probably end up in jail one of these days."

  
  
  
  


New York, USA

  
  


Sonya was annoyed. Ever since Lily had told her about Andy's call, she'd been, well, a bit nasty. They had went to see the musical and spent the next day shopping, and then Andy had called. It was more complicated than usually, since the young man had built some sort of device which had called the portal and also done something to him. Andy had sounded very worried and insisted that they'd leave immediately to Finland. If only that was so easy, Lily thought, looking at Sonya.

"I can't believe you agreed to this," Sonya said quietly. "We were supposed to have a nice holiday, together, and then you..."

"You've said that before," Lily said calmly. "I'm sorry, dear, but what was I supposed to do? We're here, Andy needs help and... We've already had a wonderful holiday, right?" She realized that the charming smile was a mistake. Sonya sniffed. "You're trying your charming smile on me, aren't you?"

"Yes," Lily said sheeply. "But if Andy is right and something affected a person living in this world, then we really have to be quick. You've seen people who've been affected by portal powers, it can be very nasty."

"I know," Sonya sighed. "But I just wished that..."

"I'll make sure that the next time we're on holiday, nothing like this happens," Lily said. "Okay?"

"Well, this would be better if we could there faster," Sonya sighed. It wasn't a good idea to use their magic/technology here, since they only had a certain amount of magic, and they would need most of it to open the portal out of this world. And they might need some to fix whatever damage the portal had caused to the young man... The figures Andy had sent were a bit unclear, like all figures from non-magical worlds. They had to be prepared. So no travelling with magic. And that meant they were stuck at an airport, and their plane was already three hours late. There were some nasty storms going on in Europe and Sonya was starting to believe they would get to Finland faster by getting a rowing boat.

"You want something to eat?" Lily asked. "Coffee? Tea? Chocolate? Biscuits?"

"You don't have to try to please me," Sonya said. "I'm angry with you, but if I'd answered the phone, I'd done exactly the same decision. So don't worry, dearie. And get me chocolate."

"Coming right up," Lily grinned and walked away. Sonya looked at the board, in which the departing time had moved another hour later, and fished out Virginia Woolf's book she had bought the previous day. She's probably have time to read through the whole book while waiting.

  
  
  
  


Mikkeli, Finland

  
  


Anna, Jani and Kata were sitting on the sofa and watching the independence day festivities in the presidential palace. This was a tradition all of them had got used to, watching a bunch of privileged quests dancing around in expensive costumes, and so after it had become clear they didn't have anything else to do, they had gravitated towards the television and stuck there.

"That's a cool dress," Kata said, reaching for a bowl of crisps on the table in front of them.

"Yep," Anna said. "Could you give me the crisps?"

"I don't think that's a good dress," Jani said. "But then again," he added when the women glared at him, "I'm just a man, what do I know about anything."

"You know a lot," Kata said gently. "You're entitled to your own opinion. But how can you say you don't like that dress? Now that's a terrible dress," she added, pointing to the screen.

"Do I have to say this?" Anna asked. "What is going on in there?" she said, pointing towards the bedroom, where Jarlaxle and Entreri had taken their prisoner.

"What usually goes on in bedroom?" Jani asked grinning. Anna elbowed him. "Not funny! This is starting to get too strange and..."

"That's why we're trying not to think about it and are numbing our brains in front of the television," Jani said. "Hey, turn to channel three, there's Popfinlandia concert on!"

Kata changed the channel and metallic sounds filled the room. "Apocalyptica!" she grinned. "Why didn't you tell me Apocalyptica is performing in this thing?"

"I didn't know," Jani said. "Good thing we changed the channel. But the concert is called Popfinlandia, and I wouldn't call this kind of metal music very much like pop."

"Yeah, but.." they continued arguing, trying to think anything but what was actually going on in their lives.

  
  


"He keeps waking up, trying to say something and then he falls back to unconsciousness," Jarlaxle said. "There's something in his mind, something... familiar."

"It came from Faerun?" Entreri asked. The assassin was sitting on the bed, painfully aware that there was a white toy bunny next to him. 

"Maybe not from Faerun. From somewhere. It's a very big world out there. I don't think he meant to get us here," Jarlaxle said. "I think he was doing something else, nevertheless something very stupid, and then something bad happened."

"So the storm in Faerun and us ending up in here were not connected?" Entreri asked. He felt a bit lost with this kind of magic.

"Maybe. I don't know. There's the thing in his mind, keeping the real him back. If we could find his real self, we could find out what he did and what happened."

"And if we don't? What will we do if we're stuck here for the rest of our lives?" Entreri asked. "I know you've thought about that too."

"Yes. But we still have a chance. The thing in his mind is strong now, but if we find a chance to keep him awake, it may not be able to hold on to him that easily. Wake up!" he shouted and tapped the man on the shoulder. He opened his eyes, trying to focus on the drow.

"You came," he muttered, and then his eyes closed.

"Yes, we came," Jarlaxle said and shook the man awake again. "And now, keep talking to us..."


	5. Finding out things

Hark: Comments Anna makes about the education and money are the reality in which I live. More money to students! "Do you hear the people sing..." And Jarlaxle is probably being affected by being on Earth for a while...But I like it.

Updated. To he... heck with those ratings! This story stays as PG-13. 

  
  


Chapter 5: Finding out things

  
  


Mikkeli, Finland

  
  


"Wake up! Time to go outside!" a cheerful voice said. Anna opened her eyes and tried to move her head. The pain in her neck informed her that it wasn't such a good idea to fall asleep while sitting on a sofa. She looked at Jarlaxle, who was already wearing the yellow coat and red woolly hat.

"What?" she asked, getting up and hearing her neck make a quiet crunching sound.

"We found out where he lives, so we're going to go and take a look around."

"By the last we you mean..."

"You and me," Jarlaxle said, not dropping the cheerful tone from his voice. Anna resisted the urge to slap him, which might have ended up badly for her anyway. "You know the town better, you have the right appearance for walking around, and if we find something technical things, you might understand them better."

"Just you and me?" Anna asked. "What about Entreri?"

"Well, he needs to stay and guard the prisoner," Jarlaxle said. "Or would you like to guard him?"

"I'm still trying to cope with the fact that there is a man tied up in my bedroom, which in other situation might be a good thing. I'm certainly not trying to start guarding him," Anna said. 

"We said the same," Jani said, peeking out of the kitchen. "We'll have some food ready when you return."

"Great," Anna said. "Am I still dreaming. Feels like dreaming."

"I have to go home to feed my cat," Kata said. "But I'll come back after that. Especially if there's some food. I don't think I have anything good at home."

"Sure," Anna said. "People come here and eat my food and tie people up in my bedroom... I need to get some clothes from there!"

"Well, he's tied up and his mostly unconscious, so he's not going to attack you. Or are you afraid of a man tied up? They're the ones to watch out, really," Jarlaxle said. Anna glared at the smirking drow. "Funny. Ok, give me five minutes and we can go. The sooner things get normal, the better."

Anna marched into her bedroom, nodding at Entreri who was laying on her bed. The young man was tied to a wooden chair she usually stored her clothes on.

"I'm just getting some clothes," Anna said grinning as Entreri sat up in the bed. Seeing the black-clad assassin lying on the bed next to a big, white stuffed toy bunny was amusing, but on the strangeness-scale of recent days it didn't rank very high. The look on his face told her he could guess what she was thinking and wasn't very happy about it.

"Why are you staying here and Jarlaxle going out?" Anna asked as she pulled out a warm sweater.

"He's better with magic," Entreri answered, in a tone that told her he wasn't interested in small talk, or any other kind of talk, for that matter.

"Ok," Anna said. "And my arm's better, thanks." She still wasn't sure what Entreri had done to her arm. He had studied it for a moment and then grabbed hold of it and pulled. It had hurt like hell, but then the pain had gone away very quickly and, this was the best part, hadn't returned. The assassin didn't answer her. She piled up the clothes she'd found and looked at him. "Well, bye now." When she went into the bathroom to change, the only room in the apartment where there wasn't someone tied down or admiring the way television worked, she wondered how Entreri had teamed up with Jarlaxle. The two men seemed totally different, and still they had been travelling together, although they had told only little of the circumstances before they had been swept away.

Anna changed her clothes quickly and then went to put on her shoes and coat. Jarlaxle and Kata were already waiting for her. When they were outside, Kata started to walk towards her home, while Anna and Jarlaxle headed towards the city centre.

"Couldn't we use one of these... cars to get there?" Jarlaxle asked, eyeing the parked cars with great interest.

"Well, I can't drive. Can you?" Anna asked. The drow looked at her with a surprised look on his face. "I understood from what Jani told me that everyone over eighteen can drive."

"Everyone over eighteen can try to get a driving license which gives them the right to drive. I've never got around to get it," Anna replied.

"Why not?" Jarlaxle asked. "Surely moving around would be a lot easier."

"Well, I would have to take care of the car and... I'm not very good with big moving machines that can crash into people, buildings and parts of nature. I rather walk. Or use public transportation. That's nature friendly," she added, wondering why she was once again forced to explain why she didn't have a driving license. It seemed that owning a driving license was the default setting, not owning one always required an explanation. But the truth was that she just wasn't good with mechanical things and was much happy and certainly felt a lot safer when someone else was doing the driving. Except, she decided as she looked at Jarlaxle's expression, she'd never got into the same car with the drow. That was certain, even if he wasn't driving.

"So how far is it?" Jarlaxle asked. The address that the young man had given Jarlaxle was a short walk from the city centre to the opposite direction from Anna's home, but it wouldn't take long to get there.

"Not that far," Anna said. Then, trying to draw the drow's attention from the surrounding cars and their interesting mechanical abilities, she asked: "What size are the towns where you're from?"

"Well, they're usually smaller. Mostly there are villages, but then there are some really large cities. Larger than this."

"That's not hard to accomplish," Anna muttered. "I used to live in a bigger city, when I studied."

"Yes, you mentioned something about that. And yet you're not rich," Jarlaxle said. "How did you manage to get into a..."

"University," Anna said. "Here it isn't about wealth. You get in if you're good in the subject you want to study. Or at least read the entrance exam book well enough. The state finances the studies, except you have to live very... not poorly, but you have to watch what you use the money for. They don't give much. And now they're planning on cutting from the little they give. Students should graduate faster with less money and no right to do much work to earn money. It's insane, and I'm glad I'm not studying anymore. My parents helped me out while I studied, though. They're not rich, but they could spare some money so that I didn't have to eat only macaroni or fish fingers every day."

"Interesting," Jarlaxle said. Anna looked at him sharply. "Did you understand any of what I just said?"

"Sure," the drow answered. "You get financial aid to study, but now they want to take the money away and you to finish your studies earlier. Perhaps they hope that you'll be so hungry that you try desperately to study more."

"Yes, you have more time to study when those annoying breakfasts and dinners don't get into the way. And you know what? All cost came up, the financial aid never did. Or does. For example my rent was raised every year, but did I get more money to help me pay it?"

"No," Jarlaxle said. "But at least you got something."

"Yes, shouldn't complain," Anna nodded. "But it's annoying. And just because it's not my problem anymore, I still care about it. If I ever have children, I don't want to start saving for their schooling as soon as I find out I'm pregnant."

"You know, where I'm from, many women of your age already have children," Jarlaxle said. Anna looked at his expression, which revealed nothing, but he was clearly waiting for some kind of reaction. He was usually so diplomatic and well-spoken, that he hadn't uttered the comment without thinking. He smirked. "I can see you thinking about it. Very good."

"A test. Well, all I can say is that the women in this world have more control over their lives. They choose to marry and start families later. And of course we have contraception," She smiled at Jarlaxle's expression, which now was clearly - not confused, he was too cool for confused - asking.

"Contraception, different ways which prevent women from coming pregnant. One of my friends wrote a paper on some of them for her graduation work at the university. She studied pharmacy, making on medicines," Anna added. "She could explain them better. Sometimes they don't work, but they certainly work better than "if I pull it out on time nothing will happen" or "nothing will happen if we do it standing up". Men..."

"You know," Jarlaxle said, sounding almost shocked and certainly impressed, "not very many women I've met talk like that. Except some belonging to the more... marginal profession."

"So I talk like a whore?" Anna asked grinning. "See, women are freer here. And I'm also a feminist, which always helps when I talk about these kinds of things."

"A feminist?" Jarlaxle asked, starting to enjoy conversation with this young woman. He had met many kinds of women during his life, but never quite one like Anna. Or, for that matter, Kata. They seemed more sure of themselves than many female fighters with great skills in Faerun. Maybe because they didn't have to fight for their place every day, fearing that losing their fighting skills would leave them dead, crippled or as someone's wives. Here the women had freedom of choice.

"Feminists see that the world, although it had improved, still treats women differently than men and reserves all the best spots for men. There's this power hierarchy, in which men are at the top. White men,"she added smiling at Jarlaxle's expression. "I'm leaning a bit towards radical feminism, although it doesn't consider race, ethnicity, religion and those kind of things enough. It believes that men's violence towards women is behind all oppression. Patriarchy is bad..." she finished grinning. "Half of that is what I remember from the notes I took in some Women's Studies lecture long time ago."

"The culture I'm from is matriarchy," Jarlaxle said smiling. "Women rule everything."

"Not good," Anna said, to his surprise.

"Why not?" Jarlaxle asked. "Don't you think that things would be better if women ruled?"

"I think that women and men should rule together. I mean, it seems like a good idea, having women as rulers, but it could end up with men being the oppressed, in the same position as women are now. I want equality for all, but not on men's rules. On everybody's rules. Which is kind of impossible. Or so it feels."

"Never give up the good fight," Jarlaxle grinned. "Can you tell me why the people passing us stare at us and whisper, or look away, or look disgusted?"

"Well, I think some women, and also some men, find you really attractive. I don't think they find me that attractive," she added with a sigh. "It's these eyeglasses and all... And the rest of them stare at your skin colour and think that you're a foreign bastard who has come here to steal all honest Finnish work and all pure Finnish women."

"Are you joking?" Jarlaxle asked.

"Unfortunately not," Anna sighed. "A couple of years ago I dated this Anglo-Indian guy and he visited me here once before we broke up. His skin wasn't very dark, a bit like Entreri's actually, but people still stared and whispered. At a bar one drunken guy came to me and said I should ditch him and get a proper Finnish man instead. Everybody around us seemed to agree. So we left."

"It's a strange world," Jarlaxle said. "People hate others without a good reason."

"People are taught to hate others," Anna sighed. "My uncle, we don't keep in touch with him much, is a racist. The things he'd said to my mother when he heard I was dating Tony, that Anglo-Indian guy... Mum had said to him that he can be an idiot if he wants to be, but she doesn't have to listen to him. After that we've only met him at one wedding, where we kept a distance. And I worry that his children will turn out like him."

"Luckily you're not like that," Jarlaxle said smiling. "So, are were there yet?"

"It's just along this road and then left," Anna said as they turned from a corner. "At least I think so. Are you feeling any magical vibration?"

"No," Jarlaxle laughed. "It doesn't really work that way. Well, it sometimes does, but not now. Not here."

They reached the tower block and on the second floor Jarlaxle stopped in front of a door and pulled out keys from his pocket. "What is that sound?" he asked as he opened the door.

"Sounds like loud music coming from the neighbour. Limp Bizkit, I think," Anna said as they walked into the small one room apartment.

"Limp what?" Jarlaxle asked.

"Bizkit," Anna replied. "Don't ask. People usually don't think too much about the names of the bands they listen to. Sometimes they don't think of the lyrics either," she added dryly.

"Well, here we are," Jarlaxle said, walking straight to a small device set on a kitchen table. Next to it were two empty Pepsi Max bottles. He looked at the device, which was making a small humming sound.

"There's some power there, but it's not really magical. But there are traces here of some kind of magic. Like an explosion," he said, moving around. "It happened here in the middle of the room. He was thrown to the bed," the drow continued, turning around. "It was connected to the portal opening. We were thrown near your house, something came through here."

"Great," Anna sighed. "What are you doing?" she said when Jarlaxle picked up a plastic bag from the corner of the room and went to the kitchen table. 

"I'm not leaving it here," the drow said, taking the device carefully and putting it in the bag. "There. We can go now."

"That's it?" Anna asked. "You really couldn't just ask for directions and do this yourself?"

"And be denied the pleasure of your company?" the drow asked grinning. "Never. Besides, I enjoyed hearing about feminism and schooling and... And you needed to get out of that apartment."

"And get some exercise?" Anna asked. "That's what people always say to me."

"To get a break from worrying about things all the time," Jarlaxle corrected. "You look good already." The drow winked at her and then walked to the door, which he opened liked a butler. "After you, my lady."

Anna sighed and walked out. Jarlaxle locked the door and followed, carrying the quietly whirring device in a plastic bag with a picture of Santa Claus.

Things would have been perfect if they hadn't encountered a gang of skinheads when they were taking a shortcut through a yard surrounded by four old four-storey high stone houses.


	6. Mind games

Hark: I had a writer's block, holiday laziness and... I don't know. This sucks, but I need to finish this soon, so I'll just post this chapter and promise that the next chapter will be better. And I should add that this story has taken a completely different turn from what I originally planned. Bad story! 

  
  


Chapter 6: Mind games

  
  


Mikkeli, Finland

  
  


"Oh no," Anna said, stopping. Jarlaxle looked at her and then at the six young men, who were staring at them, not looking very pleased. 

"Skinheads?" he asked, stepping closer to Anna and handing her the plastic bag. "Keep this safe."

"There's six of them," Anna said, sounding very scared. "What can you possibly do..."

"You'll see," Jarlaxle said, grinning. The grin seemed to annoy the approaching men, or boys, Jarlaxle corrected himself. 

"What's so funny?" said their leader, or at least Jarlaxle thought that the speaker was the leader. After all, he was the one speaking, and he also looked a bit smarter than the others, although that wasn't very hard to do. He was wearing a black coat that was too big for him, large shoes and trousers that had, what was the word Anna had used? Some kind of army camouflage colouring of green and brown. Why would anyone want to wear trousers like that in the city of black, grey and - at the moment - white, was beyond Jarlaxle's comprehension. They weren't even stylish.

"I said what's so funny?" the leader repeated, clearly annoyed by Jarlaxle's stare. The drow smiled.

"It would be best for you to step back and let us pass," he said. "I would hate to see what happened if you tried to stop us."

"I bet you would," the leading skinhead said, clenching his fists.

"Oh, you've misunderstood me," Jarlaxle said, still smiling, but also keeping his eye on all of the skinheads. "I would hate to see what happened to you, since I'm a peace-loving person and don't like hurting anyone. But..." he added, with a more menacing tone, "I will, if you don't leave right now."

The skinhead moved, quickly, in his own opinion, but Jarlaxle had already moved, pushing Anna behind him, and as the skinhead's fist came down, the drow snatched it, twisted and pulled. Anna had no idea what had happened, the drow's movements had been like a blur. The stared at the skinhead, who had fallen on his knees, moaning in pain, and then at the other skinheads, who had started to move towards the drow, but had stopped when their leader had fallen.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Jarlaxle asked, leaning towards the skinhead and tightening is grip. "It's so much easier when your prey doesn't fight back?"

"Let him go!" one of the other skinheads yelled, stepping closer with a knife on his hand. The drow looked at him and then, again with movements too fast for Anna to properly see, threw a dagger. It hit the knife on the skinhead's hand and knocked it off, then fell to the ground.

"Damn," Jarlaxle muttered and released his grip of the leader's hand, kicking the man. Then he pulled of his woolly hat and, with some effort, levitated up. The skinheads stared at him in horror and Anna felt like she was going to start to laugh. It was too weird. 

"Leave now," the drow said, returning to the ground, partly because he wasn't sure he would've been able to stay in the air much longer. "And if I ever hear of you doing something like this again... Well, I have friends and they are not all as calm and polite as I am." The skinheads stepped back as he walked to retrieve the dagger that hadn't returned to him; its magic was fading. Then he turned and held out his hand. Anna walked to him, took his hand, and - trying to look calm although she wanted to laugh and scream at the same time - let the drow lead her out of the yard to the street.

"I'd suggest we run," Jarlaxle said, putting the woolly hat on to cover his ears. "They are a bit confused now, but they'll snap put of their fear soon and then they'll be angry. And then I'll have to hurt them some more and that can draw unnecessary attention."

"I can't believe that," Anna said, looking behind her. "You just..."

"We talk later," Jarlaxle said, taking Anna's hand again, starting to walk forwards and then stopping to look around. "Except I have no idea where we are. You lead the way."

  
  


They returned to Anna's apartment. Kata had already come back and was sitting in the living room with Jani, watching Spirited Away. Anna handed the plastic back to Jarlaxle, who went into Anna's room. She went to the living room and stared at the tv for a while. "You really have nothing better to do?" she asked.

"You have a good dvd-collection," Jani said grinning. "And we don't have many alternatives, do we? Sitting with Entreri and guarding the... guy."

"Prisoner," Kata said, standing up. "We... well, Jani made some food. Chicken... What was it?"

"Chicken thingie," Jani replied. "There's chicken and rice and cream in it. I really don't have any better name for it. But it's good."

"Have you already eaten?" Anna asked. "We weren't away that long."

"Well, it didn't take long to make it and we were hungry and..."

"Ok, I'll get some," Anna said. "Has Entreri eaten? What about the prisoner?" she added.

"No. Maybe you should try to get them to eat," Kata said. "They seem to like you better than us," she added with a grin.

"I'm their little saviour," Anna sighed. "You know, I still think I'll wake up and realize that this has been a very, very strange dream."

"Anna!" Jarlaxle called to her from the bedroom door. "Could you come and help us? And bring some paper and pens, please."

"Sure," Anna sighed and looked at Jani and Kata. "Enjoy the movie.,"

  
  


"What is he doing?" Anna asked Entreri. They were sitting on the bed, staring at Jarlaxle, who was sitting on the floor with the strange object in front of him. In the last half an hour the object had whirred, floated in the air, rattled and almost, in Anna's opinion, exploded. Or at least it had glowed looking way too dangerous to be used anymore. Jarlaxle had made some notes in a language Anna couldn't understand, and was now simply sitting and staring at the object.

"I have no idea," the assassin admitted, sounding, to Anna's surprise, tired. 

"I'm trying to understand this," the drow replied, looking at them. "You try it."

"Me?" Anna asked, and even Entreri looked surprised.

"You're from this world, this object is from this world..."

"What about him?" Anna interrupted, pointing at Marko, who was still tied to the chair, which had been pushed in the corner of the room. "He made it, so maybe it would react to him. The problem is that we don't know how it'll react to him."

"Too dangerous," Entreri said. "We would have to untie him and we don't know what he'll do then."

"We don't know who he'll be then," Jarlaxle added. "But maybe we have no other choice. At least I'm running out of ideas. Get out and be prepared to run if something goes wrong," he added to Anna. 

"What about you?" Anna asked.

"We're usually able to take care of ourselves," the drow said, ignoring Anna's doubting look. "Go now."

  
  


Helsinki-Vantaa airport, Finland

  
  


"Finally here," Sonya sighed. "Let me say this once more, I hate aeroplanes. Seriously, I hate them!"

"Calm down, dearie," Lily said, although she too was feeling tired and annoyed. The plane had left really late and the food they had served had been... quite awful. They had claimed it was chicken, but it was horrible to think what had been done to the poor chicken to make it taste like that. "Now, there are no connecting flights to Mikkeli, so it's easiest to take the train. We just have to get to the centre of Helsinki..."

"Great," Sonya muttered and lifted her bag from the floor. "And it's snowing! Wonderful!"

"Don't worry," Lily said, looking outside. "In Finland people are prepared to have some, or lots of, snow during winter. There will be no problems."

Later, stuck in a traffic jam (caused by too much snow and two cars colliding) near Helsinki

  
  


"Ok, so I might have been wrong. But nobody got hurt, so everything's fine. Right? Dearie, please talk to me."

  
  


Mikkeli, Finland

  
  


"What's going on?" Marko asked. His arms were hurting, his head was aching and, he realized, he was staring at the face of the men who had threatened him with a sword and then captured him. He remembered telling them his name, where he lived. And then he hadn't been there, there had been someone else... He couldn't remember everything clearly. He had been supposed to get a connection, he had felt the energy, he knew it had worked, he knew everything he believed in was true...

"We brought you this," the black-skinned man said, pointing to the floor. There it was. It was still working, still sending its signal. He moved to it, touching it lightly. It was working, but something wasn't right.

"What have you done to it?" he asked, surprised by the anger in his own voice. "It's not the same anymore."

"We were hoping you could tell us what it is," the black-skinned man replied. "We were simply trying to get it to find out what it does, but..."

"You can't understand it," Marko said angrily. "It's mine, I built it and only I can operate it. What do you want from it? You're not the people I wanted to call."

"Maybe, but..."

"No! You're the wrong ones, you're..." Marko said, and then his voice changed completely. It wasn't his voice anymore. He could feel himself drifting away. And then it dawned to him. He was no longer in control. He stood, the only word he could think of, inside his own head, watching himself being operated by someone else. He couldn't see it but he sensed it. It was bright, shining like a sun in his mind. It was the kind of light that was usually associated with goodness, defeating evil. But despite the brightness, this thing felt evil. It felt like it should've been dark and sinister. He tried to get a grip of himself, but it was too difficult. After all, he didn't even have a grip of his own body. He stared out of his eyes, but was pushed aside. He stepped back and huddled into a corner of his mind, trying to find darkness that could shut out that terrible light.

  
  


"What do you want," the young man asked. Entreri and Jarlaxle looked at each other. It wasn't the voice of the young man they had heard before. 

"We want to know who you are," Jarlaxle replied, and the man's mouth moved; he was clearly trying to smile without knowing how to do it properly. His eyes were starting to glow.

"I am I," the man replied. "I've always been. I didn't have any place to call my home and now I have. What a wonderful place. Young, can be modified. And its mind knows how to make many things. Can be useful."

"Where is the real owner of that body?" Jarlaxle asked, his eyes swivelling towards the device which was whirling around faster than before.

"Hunched in the corner over there," the man replied and his eyes swivelled completely around. "He's no use to me right now, and his too weak to take back his body. But he doesn't take up too much space, so I'll let him stay, at least for a while."

"You still haven't told us who you are," Jarlaxle said. The man laughed, loudly. 

"I'm not sure you could understand. Or maybe you could. You're not ordinary drow. I wouldn't want to get stuck inside your mind. But you can call me... Call me Zak, for now," the thing said and laughed again as it saw Jarlaxle's angry look. "A name very close to the top of your mind, and therefor very easy to pick. You're mind," it added to Entreri, "Is not all that interesting. You really think you can block me?" it said and Entreri went pale. He took a few steps back and then fell to the floor, screaming and holding his head. The young man, or the thing inside him, looked at the assassin with mild interest and then looked away. Entreri lied still, breathing heavily. The door swung open.

"Another one," said the creature. Zak, Jarlaxle thought, still shocked by the effect it had had on Entreri.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Anna asked, staring at them and holding in her hand a frying pan, a weapon favoured by many people hearing going to check what is causing a strange sound.

"Come inside, little girl," the creature said at the same time as Jarlaxle shouted: "Get out." Anna stared at them and then her eyes went glassy. She swayed a bit and then shut her eyes. When she opened them, the creature looked like it had just been slapped.

"How did you do that?" it asked, its voice almost shaking. "How the hell did you do that?!" Jarlaxle felt the mental force sweeping through the room and hitting Anna, who fell down without a word or a scream. Then the glowing eyes turned to Jarlaxle, who almost stepped back a few steps. This wretched world was starting to affect him more than he had thought would be possible.

"You hadn't trained her and still she managed to block me," the creature said, picking some of the necessary information straight from Jarlaxle's mind. "A natural talent in a world where that talent will go unnoticed. How sad."

"Some might think it's a good thing," the drow answered, staring at the bedroom door and wishing that Kata and Jani wouldn't be stupid enough to come in.

"Who're they?" the creature asked. "Of no importance," it continued, replying its own question. "Let them sleep," it added and Jarlaxle felt the mental force and heard two thumps from the living room.

"What do you want?" the drow asked, looking again at the glowing eyes, although they were already so bright that it hurt his eyes.

"For long all I wanted was a home, a body. Now that I have it, I can start looking for more. Wanting for more. This is an innocent, non-magical world, but unlike you, I know how to live in these kinds of words. A race that relies mostly on their magical abilities, unable to cope in a non-magical environment," the creature added with disgust. "Your dark elf kin can only survive in worlds like Faerun. Isn't it annoying, learning that mere humans can achieve so much without magic."

"Are you trying to get me to hate humans of this world because of their mechanical skills?" Jarlaxle asked in an amused voice. "How stupid do you think I am? That kind of sentence wouldn't convince even the... Even the most gullible person in any existing world! You must try better than that."

"But if I try well enough you'll be convinced?" the creature asked. "Always on sale, will serve the highest bidder?"

"Will serve the highest bidder if the cause will profit me in other ways as well," Jarlaxle replied. "And I'm quite certain your cause wouldn't do me any good."

"I can find a way to take you back to Faerun," the creature said. "Or to other worlds. Worlds that combine magic and technology. I just need little time and help, and this world will be mine. And after that, some other world will be yours. And her," it added, pointing towards Anna, "I just need to find out a bit about her mind, learn how she could resist me. Tinker with it a bit. Make it work my way. After that, you can have her. I know you want to, although I think you can find better ones. Will find better ones."

"Let me think about that for a moment," the drow said slowly, looking first at Entreri and then at Anna. He felt weak, keeping the creature away from his thoughts right then was taking more out of him that he ever would have imagined. This damned, non-magical world. With all its ridiculous technology and people who hated each other and were ready to kill each other, but also made movies of magic and dragons, things that they knew didn't exist, composed music that he still hadn't heard enough, painted pictures, found ways on communicating over seas... The drow drew a deep breath and said, readying himself for the coming hit: "No."


	7. The end and the beginning

Hark: I just wanted to finish this quickly, since this story didn't really work. No more "being mysteriously transported to other world"-stories from me. At least for a while. Sorry about the really weird and bad ending. And merry Christmas and happy New Year to everyone!

  
  


Chapter 7: The end and the beginning

  
  


In a train near Lahti, Finland

  
  


Sonya screamed with pain. The other passengers in the train turned to stare at her and Lily, who hadn't screamed, but was holding her head. It had hurt.

"We need to hurry," Lily said, shaking her head and ignoring the stares of the people around them. "That thing was so strong... There may be serious trouble. Call Andy, we need all the help they can spare. And then we jump."

"Alright," Sonya muttered. It had hurt, really, really hurt. She wasn't sure whether she would be able to stand up.

"We'll need to be prepared," Lily said, opening her bag. "If it affected us when we're this far, it'll be..."

"Pretty strong when we're right next to it," Sonya nodded, pulling out the communication device. People were still staring at them, so she did a little motion with her hand and everyone turned away. "They can't see us now," she explained to Lily, who nodded.

"Hello, Andy?" she said when someone answered. "We're in serous trouble..."

"I know!" Andy shouted into her ear. "I've been keeping an eye on the situation, and that was... The people of that world didn't feel it yet, but if it gets any stronger..."

"Andy, what is it?" Sonya interrupted. "We are going to jump there right now and we are going to need more information."

"I'm not really sure. Some kind of ancient power, ancient by standards of most of the worlds. It was asleep in the space between worlds and when the portal opened... It went through, inhabited a body of some stupid young man who partly caused the portal to open and is now growing stronger. I'm gathering some troops which will be sent as soon as, well, as soon as we can send them. You can wait for them, if you want. I can't ask you to..."

" There are people in trouble there. We're not going to wait around for them to get hurt. We can take care of ourselves," Sonya said and looked at Lily, who was nodding. "I'll hang up now. Send the troops as fast as you can. And Andy... If something bad happens to either of us, you just might live to regret involving us in this. Bye."

"A bit theatrical," Lily said. "Are you ready?"

"Not really, but I guess we must go anyway," Sonya sighed, took Lily's hand and transported them from the moving train to an apartment in Mikkeli.

  
  


Mikkeli, Finland

  
  


Jarlaxle managed to stay on his feet, although the pain surging through his mind was nothing he had ever felt. The creature was staring at him. It had stopped its attack. It could do more of them, whereas Jarlaxle was certain he couldn't manage more than two more attacks. He felt like it would be easiest just to let go, but he dismissed that thought. 

"So weak," the creature laughed. "You know, there's something in this mind... Its thinking about some television show it has seen and how there was someone with great power of mind in that show... This world is full of people who believe in things that do not exist, or at least want to believe in things that do not exist. Klingons and rohirrim and... So ridiculous!"

"Sometimes imagination and things that do not exist are exactly what people need," Jarlaxle replied.

"You're wrong. Once I have hold of this world, there won't be need for these stupid stories. People will learn the truth and forget these stupid lies. I mean... I can give them some stories. My stories. My lies for truth. But these old stories... Useless for me."

  
  


Marko looked up, looked through his eyes. No more stories? No more of ways of escaping the world that sometimes was just too cruel? No Star Trek, ord of the Rings, Dragonlance or Discworld? Well, no Bold and the Beautiful and likes of that either, but... He needed those stories. He had grown up with them. And some other people had grown up with soap operas and considered them as important as he considered fantasy and science fiction.

He looked at the black-skinned man, and at the other people, who were all unconscious. This thing that had taken over his body was a dreadful creature, but now he wasn't afraid, he was angry. He could feel the anger building up. His body wouldn't be used to rid the world of stories. Never. No way. He got up, looked around and found the weak spot. After all, it was his body, his mind. He knew where to look.

  
  


"This has been interesting, but I believe that it's time for you to reconsider," the creature said to Jarlaxle.

"I don't think so," the drow answered. He saw the creature's eyes flash and was ready for a hit. It didn't come. The creature took a step and faltered. Its eyes flashed and for a moment they were normal. Then it screamed. Jarlaxle dived out of the way as the creature started to flail around aimlessly, as if trying to hit something in front of it. But the attack was coming from the inside, Jarlaxle thought. The owner of the body had apparently had enough.

  
  


"Well, that's interesting," a voice said behind him. He spun around and saw two women, although their lines were blurry and seemed to be mixing with the surroundings.

"Get down on the floor," another one of the women said to him. "We'll handle this."

The drow decided not to ask questions. He flung himself to the floor as the women raised their arms and started to mutter something. Then the world went very red.

  
  


Kata opened her eyes and tried to move. She couldn't, because of Jani laying on top of her.

"Jani?" she asked, and the man moaned and rolled away, holding his head. Kata sat up and looked around.

"Are you alright?" a voice asked. A young woman with dark skin and bright blue eyes was looking at her. "Don't try to get up yet," the woman continued. "It was a nasty shock. Try to get your strength back."

"What happened?" Kata asked.

"A inter-world creature that had inhabited that one young man tried to take control of you all," the woman answered, as if this was something quite ordinary. "But it encountered some surprising opposition from the mind it had overthrown. And then it was easy for us to capture it."

"I don't understand," Kata said and the woman laughed: "I don't think I would understand it either, in your situation. Let's try to wake up your friend and then I can explain everything with more detail."

  
  


Anna was sitting on her bed, trying to understand everything she had been told. It was proving to be difficult. She had woken up and found out that everything was alright again. At least that's what Jarlaxle had told her, smiling very widely. Then a woman called Sonya had tried to explain everything to her, but her head had already been aching and she had found it too difficult to concentrate. Now Jarlaxle was explaining it all to her again, and she still didn't understand it. 

"I think that what matters is that all is well now," the drow said. "We can return to Faerun and they'll take care of the creature. And you and your friends will remember nothing about this."

"Why?" Anna said. "I mean... I don't want to forget this. I think that this kind of thing doesn't happen to every person."

"Well, our rules state that we should return everything to the way it was before," Sonya said. She was drinking tea. It was nice for Anna to see that other people also drank tea at the moment of confusion and/or panic.

"Well, those are more like guidelines," a man said. Well, Anna used the word man, because the voice sounded masculine, and it was impossible to make any more guesses since the person in question looked like a column of blue smoke. He was the leader of the special team that had come to assist Sonya and Lily, although they had been late. 

"You managed to fight the creature's power. I'm not sure whther our memory spells would work. They might start to leak at some point and you'd be in trouble. I think it will be best to let you remember, but you must promise not to tell about this to anyone," the man continued.

"Who would believe us?" Anna asked. "I don't think I could even write a story about this, it's too... idiotic."

"Maybe so," Jarlaxle grinned. "But you should try. After all, people need stories and fantasy."

  
  


Later in Mikkeli

  
  


"Thank you for your help," Entreri said, making a little bow to Anna, who wondered whether she should curtsy. She decided to go with a small nod.

"I am truly grateful for all your assistance, my lady," Jarlaxla added, taking her hand and kissing it. Anna noticed Kata grinning behind Jarlaxle and tried to ignore her.

"It was interesting," she said and the drow grinned: "It's a shame that I couldn't learn more about this wonderful world of yours. Maybe one day," he added and then stepped through the portal that Sonya had opened for them.

"What do you mean, 'one day´?" Anna shouted after him, but Entreri followed the drow and then the portal closed and they were gone. She turned to look at Kata, Jani and Marko, who had stuck around just because of sheer interest. Apparently he didn't have any more interest of contacting people from other worlds, since you never could know who it was that answered your call.

"What did he mean by that?" Anna asked them, but they shook their heads. 

"Just think about it, you finally found a nice man and he was a dark elf from another world," Kata said smiling. "Ok, sorry."

"Not funny at all," Anna sighed. "And I still have to clean my bedroom. It looks like people have been fighting there, which is close to the truth."

"I would love to help, but I have to go and feed my cat," Kata said, but Anna stepped into her way.

"Your cat can survive half an hour without food. Clean. Now."

"Slavery is illegal, you do know that, don't you?" Jani asked as he was ordered to wash the dishes. Marko helped him with them. Kata and Anna cleaned the bedroom and then everyone went home. Anna sat on the sofa and turned on the television. It seemed like the sanest thing to do at the moment. Then she made some more tea.

  
  


Christmas Eve, Mikkeli, Finland

  
  


Anna was watching the news from tv. The main news seemed to be that there hadn't been many car crashes and that it had snowed much in Turku. She left the tv on. There was nothing better to do.

She had visited her family the previous day, but despite their pleas, she had returned to Mikkeli. It was the first Christmas she spent alone, she had spent all previous Christmases with her family. But now she had felt that she wanted to be alone. And so she had bought a really small Christmas tree and some food, although it was hard to find traditional Christmas food for only one person. Apparently it was assumed that everyone spent Christmas with at least one person and therefore there was no need for small amounts of food. She was certain she would be eating the same food for two weeks.

She opened the present at half past seven, which seemed like late enough. She was happy that it was a Finnish tradition to open the present already on Christmas Eve. She was sure she couldn't have waited until Christmas Day. She got 'Apocalyptica plays Metallica with four cellos' cd from Kata and changed it to her cd player. She had listened enough Christmas carols already.

"Interesting music," a voice behind her said. She turned around slowly and looked at Jarlaxle, who was leaning on the wall and grinning.

"So we do meet again," she said. "How did you get here?"

"I made a little deal with Sonya and her friends," Jarlaxle said and Anna realized she wouldn't get any more information from the drow. Not that she would necessarily need it.

"Good to see you," the drow said, stepping closer. "Now, I would be really interested in learning more about your wonderful world and its wonderful people."

"I can't say I'm the best teacher," Anna said, "but I'll do my best."

"That's all I'm asking for," Jarlaxle said, flashing her a quick smile.


End file.
